Game Review

Wii Sports Resort Review

Basketball

You can choose to play one of two games in Basketball: 3-Point Contest or Pickup Game. The 3-Point Contest will be instantly familiar to those of you who watch the NBA All Star Weekend each year. You're presented with 5 racks of balls around the 3-point line. There are 4 regular balls and one multi-colored money ball. The regular balls are worth one point and the money ball is worth two points. Up to four players can play, alternating turns. You have a 60 second time limit in which to shoot as many of the balls as you can before the time expires. Your points are then tallied up and the person with the highest point total wins. You use the button on the Wii Remote to grab a ball from the rack and then you hold the Wii Remote above your head and flick your wrist like you were shooting a real basketball. How hard you flick your wrist and where your wrist stops determines how far and with how much arc the ball travels. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get in a rhythm, you'll have no trouble making shots at will. But you've also got to remember to be quick or time will quickly run out on you.

The Pickup Game lets you and one other player take control of three characters on each team. You can pass the basketball between them and even tap the Wii Remote up and down in order to dribble around opponents. If you get close enough to the basket you can even dunk the ball. Most of the time your best bet is to pass it around a couple of times and then shoot from the outside. After a missed shot, the ball automatically goes over to the other side. You can pass to the left player using the button or the player on your right by pressing a direction on the . On defense you can even flick the Wii Remote to attempt to steal the ball when your opponent dribbles it out in front of you. While this game of basketball is very basic in design and can be a bit clunky at times, once you get the hang of it you'll actually begin to see how much variety it truly offers, at least if you can keep your expectations at a realistic level. Both basketball games are quite fun, but the 3-Point Contest is the one most players will likely spend most of their time with.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis offers up two challenges: Match and Return Challenge. Match is basically just a regular game of table tennis that can be played by one or two players. The rules are very standard and if you've ever played ping pong before, you should feel right at home. The first player to 6 points wins, although you must win by two points. You basically use the Wii Remote as your paddle and swing away at the ball as it comes your way. If the ball bounces high enough, you can even perform a smash shot to catch the other player off guard. Your player will move around on their own, the only thing you'll have to keep track of is which side to swing your paddle from in order to keep the ball on the table. Of course with Wii Motion Plus, the control tends to be very sensitive, so you'll have to be fairly accurate in your swinging motion in order to succeed. But this also means that you can impart spin on the ball by tilting the Wii Remote forwards or backwards a little in order to produce topspin and backspin. This can also be a good way to keep your opponent on their toes. Of all the table tennis games out there for the Wii currently, this is probably the best one overall. It's just very well executed and a lot of fun to play.

Return Challenge can be played with up to four players, each taking turns. The object of the game is to return as many balls as possible as the server continuously serves balls at you at an ever-increasing rate of speed. You try to return as many in a row as possible and you'll catch yourself going back for more in an attempt to beat your highest number of returns. While not as much fun as the Match mode, it's still a fun diversion and offers a lot of replay value in the process.

OMG people remember when I told you that a store here in Portugal said that the game was coming out yesterday?IT CAME OUT TODAY AND I BOUGHT IT!I'm gonna start playing it now I'm so excited and great review Corbie!

Now that's what you call an in-depth review, brilliant Corbie, thanks! And yeah, I ran out of tea before I got to the end. Can't wait for Friday night, it's gonna be one of those special multiplayer evenings that don't come around to often anymore. Woot!

Oh man, I was already hyped for Friday, but now I really can't wait. I will get some friends over, with whom I have played the original Wii Sports regulary, so it's going to be a lot of fun. Thanks for the great review, Corbie.

I'm also curious about how well the MotionPlus really works. How's the calibrating? Do you have to re-calibrate a lot?

I can't wait to pick this one up either but one thing: the original game comes with the system so this whole thing about everyone wanting to call Wii Sports the best selling game of all time is really starting to annoy me. It's like calling the Nunchuk the best selling Wii accesory just because you get one with the system. I'm not taking anything away from Wii Sports, I still pop it in once in a while, but does anyone really think the sales figures for the game would been really that impressive if it hadn't been packaged with the Wii.

@Storyteller:It wasn't packaged with the Wii in Japan, but Japanese gamers still bought it with an unprecedented attach-rate. If those figures are anything to go by, yeah, Wii Sports would still likely have been a hugely impressive seller.

Why is there something about reviews here at Nintendolife (escpecially you Corbie) that I always seem to agree with more? Anyways, I was going to pick this up anyways but am now more excited for this game, and since I already have one WM+, Im ready to suck the fun out of that package.

Why don't I want this? Everything about it looks good, yet I'm just not convinced....I dunno maybe it has something to do with how many party games I have or something or the fact that Tiger 10 already sold me on the WMP...

@Chicken Brutus.Even if you didn't want to get the actual game we're both going to have to get at least one Wii Motion Plus. Any Developer who will want to be taken seriously now will have to start designing games with the Motion plus capabilities in mind. And it's $20 so I just think of it as getting something I'll need any way and then getting a really good brand new game for only $30. At least that's how I justify it to myself.

Arghhh too many games I want!!! Great review Corbie, nice and detailed.Now I'm gonna have to get this and an extra Motion+ for the missus (I need another job!!).Can't wait to play Archery looks like a lot of fun but with a bit of depth too.

All I can say is that this is one SUPER EXCELLENT review; and a MAJOR step up from STINKING IGN's review!

So Kudos to you Corbie for doing such an outstanding job!

I was glad enough to pre-order Wii Sports Resort just last week; so I'll be picking it up next Monday on the 27th at GameStop! I so can't wait too! I saw those videos of the sword play showdown mode, facing off against all of the Mii's; & that got me more excited!

Nice review, you sound really excited. Why on earth did this get a score of nine and not a ten? In reading the review you have nothing bad to say about ''Wi Sports Resort' except that each individual sport could be fleshed out by a stand-alone game... (and that's not really bad)

@Storyteller - Only $20?! Alright, that means I can get this game and a second WMP right away!

I'm worried about the Swordfighting game. I've heard that there's no collision detection between the swords except when one of the players is doing one of the two kinds of blocks, which require holding a button. I want to be able to parry and block any way I want and without holding a button to do so! Hopefully, Lucas Arts is working on a way to have a true swordfight on Wii.

@Ian Daemon - The cycling game proves that this does not deserve a 10.

Excellent review, Corbie, and very in-depth, which was great. I can already tell sword-fighting, archery, and frisbee golf are going to see a lot of action out of me. I'm going to have to buy this whenever I have an extra $50 lying around.

Wow...i have actually changed my mind on not buying this (for those of you who knew, i really disliked this when i saw it, looked like a gimmick) BUT NOW Its definitely on my bottom spot in my waiting list Just kidding, this is actually a must buy now, who wudda thunk it XP

I touched on the saving scores briefly when I mentioned making you want to go back and try to beat the high scores. But in truth, I squeezed about as much in there as I could.

And re-calibrating happens every once in awhile, but you just quickly lay the Wii Remote down on a flat surface for like 2 seconds and that's it. It's not nearly as troublesome as some reviews have claimed, at least not in my opinion.

How does this look through Component Cables. When I bought my wii I was using a large SD TV and wiisports looked fine but when I went back to playing it recently on our upgraded TV (in preperation for Resort) I noticed how bad it looked in HD which is odd because most first party games look quite good in HD, most titles ive played that looked bad came from third party developers.Im only asking because wii sports bowling really lost its shine when the image looked so jaggy and I wondered if this had been resolved in Resort.

... I would like to add im not a graphic whore whatsoever, but if Nintendo managed to make mariokart all bright, shiney and more importantly smooth on a HD TV using 480p/EdTV settings then surely they could manage it with sports.

All the Wii games look jagged and fuzzy to me, but I play a lot of Xbox 360 and PS3. In all honesty, it looks a bit better than the original, but not much beyond that. The menus and stuff a bit smoother and more glossy this time around.

Got my copy today and i have to say im loving it! Thought i really wasnt going to like cycling and basketball as they have had their critics but basketball to me is really good and cycling is still quite fun to play even if its controls dont really utilise wii mostion +. Very happy with my purchase and impressed by the wii motion plus.

Reviewer wrote: "It's actually even more fun than regular golf once you get the hang of it, so much so that we're considering taking a frisbee to the local golf course this weekend to try it out for real." I wanted to let you know that "Disc Golf" (as it's usually called) is a real life sport. There are hundreds of disc golf courses worldwide, with actual disc golf baskets, so you don't really play it on a ball golf course. Visit the PDGA.com Professional Disc Golfer's Association website for a course directory and find an actual disc golf course near you. It is a TON of fun. It's an excellent sport. You buy 2-3 discs (other brands besides Frisbee) for about 10 dollars each. There is no course fee, so it's inexpensive outdoor competition with your friends in a nice park -- for example if your Wii breaks or the electricity goes off, or if you just need some exercise and sunlight. The reason I finally decided to log-in on Nintendo Life is I felt excited to tell the reviewer this is a real life game people play.

Just bought the game this morning from Walmart and I can't stop playing! Another great game by Nintendo that easily shows what the Wii motion plus peripharel is capable of. Great review Corbie, definetly a must buy!

This is a massive step up from the original Wii Sports. My favourites are the table tennis (which more than makes up for the lack of "proper" tennis, in my humble opinion), the sword fighting, the basketball, and the plane flying. Any one of these could be a great game in its own right, so to have them all in one package is a delight. The cycling is completely broken though, which is bizarre, as everything else works really well. I don't think I'd go as high as 9/10, but it's a strong 8 definitely. I haven't played it in multiplayer yet, so that may push it up a point.

Well me and some friends hit the local golf course last week and played using two different frisbees and it was great. We're next going to try playing using a Vortex football. But thanks for letting me know that Disc Golf is indeed a real sport.

Sounds like an awesome game! I like the way you organized every game straight. I still think it would be a good idea to organize the pictures with the name of the game in order like: The Frisbee review goes with the frisbee picture.

9/10 little crazy i wouldn't go that far id say about 7.9.the wii-motion plus is good but game is just other tech demo, with little added pep. Sadly for me the pep isn't good enough to warrant £50 pounds on it!

which in my opinion is just other way to get causal crowd excited but rest of use need little more depth and action!

come on nintendo i wanna see some online gaming from yeah or at least the ability to share stats or achievements with friends on next game?

This is a great game. I just can't understand why Nintendo can release gaming perfection like this, but other developers can't seem to match it. I play a lot of other casual style games on the Wii, but whenever I pop in a new release by Nintendo, it's like I'm playing on a whole different system. The graphics are 100x better, the controls are probably 300x better and the replay value is 500x better. Why can't other developers get this right? I'd give this game a 10/10 after a few days with this game. I'm that gamer that doesn't care about online play, leaderboards, etc. I just want a fun game that doesn't have a lot of flaws. It doesn't get much more fun than this.

I have to admit that this games surprised me. I was not expecting that much of it and I bought it because of the Wii Motion Plus. It's not perfect but it improves a lot the first Wii Sports:1) More Sports this time 12. Some of them really original2) The idea of the stamps is brilliant. It gives the players that extra difficulty that some players love (and other hate) but does not force anyone to do it. It is kind of achievement/trophy kind of thing.3) It's a perfect game to play with friends.4) It has several modes, some of them like the sword fight cand keep you busy for a long time.As I said it's not perfect, some online mode would be welcome, specially since Mario Kart proved that it is possible.

I just recently spent some time playing the swordplay events in the game; I've had the game for some time, but this is the first time I've actually got around to playing it. Based on my initial impressions of the swordplay events, I think it could totally revolutionize how we play video games. Very fun stuff; I can only imagine what it would be like to have the same fluid swordplay in a sandbox game like Oblivion.

My opinion on the original Wii Sports is that its worthless, but I still thought on buying this for the sake of the added motion+. Anyway, do older, non-motion+ games work more accurately with it as well?If not, then are there any other motion+ games out there yet?

Great review, the game looks like a must have, but $110 for a game I just don’t know if it’s worth it.I may be alone on this but I am a little put-off by the cost of this game and the Motion-Plus? This game was meant to be multi-player so why just 1 M+?Cost: $50 (Game + 1st M+), $60 ($20*3 2nd, 3rd, 4th M+) That’s $110 + Tax for this game.I know everyone will say “you can use M+ in other games". Yea all 4 of them and 3 out of four are the same type of game! Yes I know more will come (maybe).So I have to spend $20/$25 per controller to get it to perform as it should have performed out of the box. That is way over priced M+ should have been $10 tops (the cost to have had it built in the Wii-mote from the start).You know the Wii was all hyped as being the cheaper 3gen system out there but when I add up what it took to get a full system it is the most expensive.Wii Console $250, 3 more Wii-Motes ($150), 3 Nun-Chucks ($60), 3 Classic Controllers ($60)OK that's already $520Now add 4 Motion+ ($80) Total: $600Then add the Wii-Fit although really not part of the console but still cost $80 Total cost for my Wii Console $680 (That’s a pricey system)How much more should I dump into this system that has no HD/HDMI, no DVD, no hard drive, 512MB memory, clunky online friend codes, etc. Don’t get me wrong I love my Wii but I am starting to feel like the kid getting his lunch money swiped by the bully.Nintendo Give me a break will ya.

@michael646260For the HDD I assume you mean hard drive; There is no hard drive in the Wii it is all flash memory.Or if by HDD you are referring to HD (Hi-Def-Video) then Yes the Wii has the 480i (720x480) Component cable HD, but it does not have HDMI support.

Metriod_Fan: Ya i ended up getting the normal Wii Sports resort pack for christmas ;p but i got a black wii remote with motionplus as well so its all good. anyways I'd nail this game with an 8. Swordplay for me is easily the best of the bunch, cycling is broken and just terrible....and Archery is a bit of a letdown...I think its to do with the nunchuck, it doesn't work well when pulling the string back...it jolts around and doesn't work 1:1. Anyways swordplay is just fantastic, especially showdown mode. and of course table tennis kicks tons of ass as well.

I picked it up Thursday (New Years Eve) and surprisingly, it felt like a full game and less of a tech demo I was fearing it would be. I hate the term "casual gamers" that is associated with the Wii (I admit I had that type of attitude during the early days of it when there was Twilight Princess and our "Christmas Gift" Reggie announced, Super Mario Bros. on the VC for only regular price ) but after playing some of the so called "casual" games like Sports Resort and even something like Boom Blox, yes the games are designed to be easy to get into for the "casuals" but if you really start playing there is a lot of depth for the "hardcore" (not Fratcores) player to find in the seeming simplicity of the controls.

Just got this today after seeing some gameplay videos on youtube last night and then spotting it while I was at Target this afternoon (went to the Wii section to get a nunchuk and there was Sports Resort). No sure what other people's issues with cycling are. Controls seem fairly responsive to me and in order to turn while pedaling, I just lean my body to one side or the other (it is a Wii, after all) so I don't have to coordinate pedaling and tilting the controllers at the same time.

I can feel it in my arms and shoulders when I'm canoeing and cycling. Not sure if that says more about the games or me.